MONG INDIAN YOUNG 


FROM REPORTS OF 


EDWARD C, CARTER, '00 


fe Th Maui 


ISSUED BY THE 


HARVARD CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 


CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 


March, 1904. 


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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2023 with funding from 
Columbia University Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/amongindianyoungOOcart 


AMONG INDIAN YOUNG MEN 


FROM REPORTS OF 


EDWARD C. CARTER, ’00O 


ISSUED BY THE 
HARVARD CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 


March, 1904 


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’ rey ’ 
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AB ERROR CONTENTS: 


INTRODUCTORY 


What Carter is doing in India 


Map and itinerary 


THE JOURNEY To INDIA — A preliminary survey of the field 


and first impression . 
Colombo 
Madras, Missionary and Association Conferences 
Calcutta 3 , 
Delhi and the Durbar 
Ahmednuggar 
Bombay 


REGULAR WoRK BEGUN IN BENGAL, THE NORTHWEST 


PROVINCES AND THE PUNJAB 
Bareilly 
Lahore 
Delhi 
Cawnpore 
Lucknow 
Allahabad : ; : 
Student Conference at Walajabad 
Madras 


BURMAH AND DEVELOPMENTS SINCE APRIL 27, 1903 
List oF POSITIONS IN INDIA WHERE HARVARD MEN 


ARE NEEDED 


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What Carter 1s Doing In India. 


It has been my aim to enter so far as is possible the inner 
thought life of all or nearly all sections of this highly 
organized social life. Not only have I aimed keenly to ob- 
serve the life of the natives of the land—I have sought 
opportunities to acquaint myself with the European and 
Eurasian sections of the population. The presence of thou- 
sands of European, young men, nearly all of whom are in 
positions where they are looked up to by great numbers of 
non-Christian young men, compels attention to their social 
and moral needs. Few greater influences for righteousness 
could be conceived than that which might be exerted if the 
representatives of Christian countries who are engaged in 
trade and Government service were making sincere efforts 
to pattern their lives after that of the Master. 

So far as has been possible I have endeavored to meet all 
elasses aS one in real sympathy with their position and 
ambitions. I have endeavored to do as the Romans do, 
whether it involves eating native food in native fashion, 
or accepting hospitality in unkempt student lodgings, or 
in the simple routine life of a missionary station, or don- 
ning golfing flannels or evening dress when entertained in 
the home of some leading English official. My position as 
travelling secretary for Northern India of the Indian Na- 
tional Council of the Young Men’s Christian Associations, 
has given me invaluable opportunities for studying some 
of the larger problems that are confronting those who aim 
to make higher the ideals for which these people are striving 
Furthermore, as a representative from a recognized Uni- 
versity with the unoffending commission “to study the life 
and conditions of students in India” scores of places other- 
wise inaccessible have been thrown open to me and I have 
been most cordially received. The universal courtesy ex- 
tended to me by officials, missionaries, merchants, Hindus 
and Mohamedans has been a source of constant pleasure. 


5 


Introductiony which I was fortunate in receiving from in- 
fluential persons in England have made smooth many a 
path. 

The 15,490 miles traversed since I landed in Ceylon, 
carrying me all the way from Tutticorin in the far south 
to Rawal Pindi and Darjeeling along the great Northern 
frontier, and from Bombay on the west to Dacca and Ran- 
goon on the east, have of necessity given me a sweep of the 
whole country which is most suggestive. Later years can 
only bring all that I have seen into its larger and deeper 
significance. Only when one gets a mastery of the vernacu- 
lar can! he expect to understand to the full the life of the 
great masses. 

As I have understood it, our idea as it developed for sev- 
eral months previous to my sailing for the East, was that I 
was sent as a Harvard missionary to study the needs of the 
young men of this country, to do all that I could personally 
to bring about a better state of affairs, and furthermore, to 
discover opportunities for other Harvard men to spend their 
lives here to the same end. In the letter I sent to you 
some weeks ago was incorporated a suggestive list of 
opportunities for Harvard men in this land. It is not my 
intention to go into this matter at the present time; but it 
is still my earnest prayer and hope that another decade will 
see instead of one Harvard graduate beside myself engaged 
in mission work in India, more than a score of men assigned 
to those positions of greatest need here where a life invested 
will bring returns of a hundred-fold in the bettered con- 
ditions of the generations that are to come after. 


Rangoon, May 1, 1903. 


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Cabeats & < \ \ —— 
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Naine Tal | oy Waltayabad | 
Mu (1) Searam pore 1 
rn cuits Q) Navi Tat | 
ra Pun OY Mussourid it 
Maher (5) Hooghly | 
awat Py; 
a hove A POLITICAL MAP 
whra Dun or 
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ee@rut ~ English Miles 
athe mS . = a) 
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“MAitchabod Gapgeoh (pri 30), " 23 
Asansol Tote/ ofr: Cee qrileag Colom bor te Rangoon 


Map showing Carter’s course Nov. 22, 1902, to April 30, 1903. 


15494 miles Colombo to Rangoon. 


Novy. 


Dec. 


1903. 
Jan. 


Feb. 


22. 
26-28. 
28-Nov. 1. 
1-3. 
3 


4-6. 


{fs 
22-27. 
29. 
11-18. 
18-22. 


24-30. 
31-Jan. 1. 


2. 
3-5. 


~] 


Itinerary. 


Sailed from Boston. 

Oxtord. Trinity College. 

London. Time spent in interviews with 
officials in India Office and Chris- 
tian Association leaders. 

Edinburgh and Glasgow. 

Cambridge. 

Sidcup (Kent), London and Oxford. 

Paris. 


Geneva. Spent with Christian Association 
officials. 
Chevalleyres, Vevey, Switzerland. With 


Robert P. Wilder, General Secretary for 

India. 

Marseilles. Sailed for Colombo. 

Colombo and Kandy. 

Madras and Bangalore. 

Madras. Decennial Missionary Conference. 

Madras. Christian Association Secretaries’ 
Conference. 

Calcutta. 

Delhi. 


Ahmednuggar. 
Bombay. 
Calcutta. 
Cuttack. 
Dacca. 
Allahabad. 
Lucknow. 
Hughli. 
Serampore. 
Darjeeling. 
Benares. 


William Carey’s College. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


21-25. 

25-27. 

28. 
2-3. 
4-21. 


16-17. 
24-26. 

26. 
28-Apr. 2. 

3-7. 

10-13. 

17. 

23-27. 

27. 


Bareilly. 

Naini Tal. 

Mussoorie. 

Roorki. 

Lahore. Making trips to Rawal Pindi, 
Dehra Dun, Roorki, Meerut, Ali- 
garh, Agra, Cawnpore, Lucknow 
and Allahabad. 

Delhi. 

Cawnpore. 

Lucknow. 

Allahabad. 

Calcutta. 

Wallajabad. 

Madras. 

Calcutta. 

Sailed for Rangoon, Lower Burma. 


Preliminary View of the Field and First Impressions. 


Before beginning my regular duties as travelling secre- 
tary for northern India it seemed advisable to get an idea 
—unfortunatelyrather cursory—of mission work in general, 
and to study the work of the Association in various parts of 
India. Instead, therefore, of making at once for the North 
I took passage for Ceylon, where I landed November twenty- 
second. 

Without doubt the hymnist’s description, ““Where every 
prospect pleases,’ is thoroughly applicable, and if “only 
man is vile,” he is nevertheless most picturesque. This isle 
of luxuriant vegetation, of spicy, hothouse atmosphere and 
many raced population is not for the matter-of-fact pencil 
of the tourist. It can only be described by the artist’s brush 
and the word-painter’s pen. 


Colombo. 


Colombo is a veritable Midsummer Night’s Dream in 
broad daylight. ‘Colombo itself, outside the actual town, is 
a perfect labyrinth of shady bowers and flowery streams 
and lakes. For miles you drive under arbours of feathery 
bamboos, broad-leaved breadfruit trees, talipot and areca 
palms, cocoanut groves, of rice fields, cinnamon, and sugar 
cane, amidst which at night the fireflies dart in glittering 
clusters. The lowest hut is embosomed in palm fronds and 
the bright crimson blossoms of the hibiscus. Wherever in- 
telligent cultivation aids the prolific force of nature there 
is enough in the profusion of nutmegs and allspice, of india 
rubber and cinchonas, of cannas dracaenas, crotons and 
other wonders of Cingalese flora, to give endless and de- 
lighted study to the lover of nature.’’* 

Perpetual is the beauty, perpetual also the climate—a sort 
of continuous Turkish bath atmosphere. Mission work goes 
on, and like the vegetation, seems to thrive. The glimpse 


*Sir Edwin Arnold. 


that I got of the work of the Church Missionary Society 
and Wesleyan Society at Kandy, Cotte and Colombo did not 
bring disappointment to my uncertain feelings. This, the 
first experience with Missions, I had felt was to be a bit 
critical. Little need there proved to be for misgivings. 

A few days were sufficient to convince me that the work 
ot the Colombo Young Men’s Christian Association was be- 
ing done in a thorough though unpretentious fashion. I 
was told by a missionary up in Kandy that all over the 
island were young men who had been influenced by 
the Colombo Association, and especially by the person- 
ality of Louis Hieb, the secretary. At the time of my visit, 
Mr. Hieb was in England securing funds for a large equip- 
ment. Of this attractive building I discovered that the 
chief promoters are three leading citizens—Sir William 
Mitchell, Mr. John Ferguson, the editor of the leading Cey- 
lon daily, and the Rev. Arthur Dibben, the secretary of the 
Ceylon Mission of the Church Missionary Society. 


Madras. 


From Colombo I crossed by steamer to Tutticorin. I 
was at last in India—Ceylon being a wholly separate colony 
and not under the Viceroy. My first journey on Indian soil 
was a twenty-hour ride from Tutticorin to Madras. The 
frequent prolonged stops at stations, common to most Indian 
trains, gave bountiful material to fill my first day with 
lasting impressions of the South Indian peoples. Of course 
the life along the railway lines is somewhat different from 
what it was before the coming of the transit and the level. 
Even now, however, the groups on a station platform have 
a picturesqueness which cannot be divested of an element 
of the grotesque. A modern railway train carrying its load 
of people (primitive in dress at least), is one of the incon- 
gruities of Eastern life. The railways have been a great 
agency in the breaking down of caste. The officious little 
Eurasian ticket-collector who bustles sacred Bramins and 
unclean outcasts into the same crowded compartment might 
well be numbereu among India’s truest benefactors. Then, 
too, the wider outlook that travel gives and the facilitating 


Io 


Rangoon —“ The Secretariat” viewed from the 
Young Men’s Christian Association Building. 


Madras Tram Car. 


of the upbuilding of educational centres are among the 
benefits that the railroad has conferred upon the Indian 
peoples. 

For over three weeks I stayed in Madras, the third city 
of the country. I was impressed with the comfortable pro- 
portions and the imposing aspect of the public and other 
buildings. Once let them catch a glimpse of the High Court, 
the Madras Christian College and the Young Men’s Chris- 
tian Association buildings, and those who picture India as 
a land solely of mud and straw huts and tents, rapidly 
would be disillusionized. Hvery large town has buildings 
that would be hailed as adornments to many an American 
city. 

The omnipresent electric car is another evidence of the 
invasion of Western civilization. Though they are labelled 
with the mysterious hieroglyphics of the vernacular, sur- 
mounting all, the handsome Mellin’s Food signs make home 
seem not so distant after all! 

My journey was so arranged that at Madras I was 
privileged to be present at the Fourth Decennial Conference 
of all missionaries in India. 

How I wish that some swift-footed messenger could have 
conveyed to the people at home an idea of this profoundly 
important gathering. Selected representatives from all the 
Protestant missions were on hand. The numbers were 
limited. No huge audiences were assembled to hang breath- 
less on the words of great orators. The aim was at tangible 
results. Committees formed months beforehand had mas- 
tered the departments of work assigned to them and em- 
bodied the result in the form of resolutions, which after a 
final revision during the opening days, were submitted to 
the whole conference, discussed and adopted. All phases of 
mission enterprises were discussed separately, viz., the 
native church, work for the young, industrial education, 
higher education, etc. One very strong impression made 
upon me was the unity existing among missionaries of all 
denominations. The various resolutions* contain the re 


*The report of the conference has been published by the Christian 
Society of Madras and Loudon at 114 Rupees (50 cents) per copy. 


Il 


sults of experienced workers of all creeds and all forms of 
work. 

A resolution passed unanimously on the last day of the 
conference was an appeal to the home Church to undertake 
with thorough earnestness the transformation of this people. 


Conference of Association Leaders. 


Immediately following the Decennial Missionary Confer- 
ence came the annual gathering of the Association general 
secretaries, of whom I was now numbered as one. Save 
Holland of Allahabad and Sarvis of Calcutta, all were pres- 
ent. The four days of practical discussion of the larger 
problems and possibilities of the movement ana the oppor- 
tunities for making the acquaintance and entering the 
friendship of the older men, were of incalculable value to 
us new workers. Crowning all was the spiritual fellowship 
of men representing five countries, seven religious sects and _ 
a dozen different Universities, bound by a common work 
and purpose. 


Calcutta. 


Part of Kipling’s description in ““‘William The Conqueror” 
is applicable to the thousand-mile journey that brought us 
to Calcutta at the end of the Conference. We passed 
through tracts inhabited by different races; as we ap 
proached the North the jabbering on the station platforms 
was in another language; the names of the towns were in 
different characters; “even the smells were different.” 

Arrived in Calcutta I was in the capital and chief city of 
an Empire of well nigh 300,000,000 people, to vast num- 
bers of whom the name Calcutta has even less of meaning 
than London had to our mountain whites a couple of 
decades ago. Here is located the seat of one of the most 
honestly administered of the world’s governments. Here is 
the residence of the Viceroy, whose absolute power is almost 
as enormous as that held by any modern potentate. Hach 
year are enrolled at Calcutta,12,000 University students and 
40,000 school boys. Though 80 miles from the sea, the port 
extending for ten miles along the Hooghly can harbor 
vessels drawing 27 feet of water. Fed by a network of rail- 


EZ 


Ways, and two great riverways, the Ganges and the 
Bramaputra, Calcutta is the receiving centre for Bengal, 
upper India, Assam and part of Central India. It has the 
great share of the export trade in jute and articles of jute 
manufacture, coal, lac, and saltpetre. In addition there are 
large amounts of tea, opium, seeds, rice, indigo, hides and 
skins, silk, etc. The imports include all the wide range of 
innumerable foreign commodities—from railway materials, 
machinery and automobiles, to Quaker Oats, Pear’s soap 
and Jaegar’s flannels. 

At Government House grand levees are held during the 
season, easily rivaling in splendor and outlay the efforts 
in the West. Opera and theatrical companies from London 
and San Francisco present last season’s productions. A 
couple of mediocre circuses gather great crowds of peanut 
shelling men and women to their nightly performances. 
Western Biograph and Graphophone entertainers give each 
year a few exhibitions. Italian singers and other birds of 
passage stop every now and then and gather an audience 
and a few rupees. Recently an Hnglish audience was treat- 
ed to a Shakespeare reading by a couple of New Yorkers. 

To describe all the agencies for good is here impossible. 
Not simply are Christian forces at work. The Bramo and 
Arya Samajs, reforming sects of Hindus, are aiming at 
better things. Sixteen different Protestant Societies have 
missions in the city; one single denomination (the Angli- 
can) maintains no less than fifteen churches. The Young 
Men’s Christian Association property is valued at upwards 
of six laks of rupees ($200,000). The work of the Associa- 
tion occupies a unique position in the life of the city. The 
European branch, aiming as it does, to provide wholesome 
influences for young men who are thousands of miles from 
the restraints of home is potent in furnishing counter 
attractions in a place where temptations are peculiarly 
subtle and the moral life of the whole community not over 
high. Men in business and government service who for- 
merly were alienated largely from the Church because it 
seemed to exist solely as a proselyting agency among the 
heathen, have been brought back into the Church by the 


3 


moral aims and practical methods of those who were ‘con- 
vinced of the need of an Association of the best American 
type. The huge gap stretching between the Missionaries 
and the great proportion of the other Europeans of the 
community is beginning to narrow, a fact largely due to the 
work of the Christian Association. 

The Student branch located prominently in the heart of 
the student quarter presents to both the inquiring and scep- 
tical Hindu, the altogether too unique example of a union 
effort participated in by Christians of numerous sects: an 
effort for righteousness on the platform of a common Master 
and one Lord of all. The significant spectacle afforded in 
the hostel of seeing ten Christians, seven Hindus, five 
Bramos and two Buddhists eating day after day at a com- 
mon mess is to be seen in few other places. 

It was in Overtoun Hall, the Association Auditorium, that 
Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall in December, 1902, delivered the 
Haskell lectures. He spoke to crowded and enthusiastic 
audiences, and his) ministry here as throughout India, was 
characterized by his deep appreciation of the thought-life 
of the East, together with his uncompromising presentation 
of Christianity as the supreme religion. Such special ad- 
vantages as these supplementing the daily opportunities, 
afforded to all seekers for truth, make the college branch a 
stronghold of wholesome influence in the feverish life of 
one of the largest student centres of the world. 

December 30 I left for Western India to meet Dr. Charles 
Cuthoert Hall, who had left Calcutta before I arrived, and 
lay before him our urgent need for several thoroughly 
equipped men. [I desired to secure his co-operation in pre- 
senting to certain of his strong men at Union Seminary, 
New York, the unique opportunities in connection with our 
movement. 


Delhi and the Durbar. 


Witn Mr. J. Campbell White, who leaves the secretaryship 
of the Association in Calcutta this year to become the secre- 
tary of the Home and Foreign Missions Board of the Pres- 
byterian Church in America, I travelled as far as Delhi, 


14 


where we spent a short but never to be forgotten time be- 
holding the wonder inspiring sights of the Coronation Dur- 
bar. To be sure, we were not there long enough to attend 
all the great state functions, nor did we have the distinc- 
tion of being entertained at a Rajah’s. Yet what we did 
see was quite grand enough for our plain eyes. 

Had Lord Curzon imported a dozen Tiffanys and Red- 
ferns, a decade of Harvard Class Days, a score of Bar- 
nums, aS many more Dewey processions and the whole 
American Army, he could hardly have produced the pageant 
of that Fairy Tale occasion. It is said that no other man 
living could have run so stupendous a show. Indeed, some 
of the native papers characterized it as the ‘“Curzonation.” 
As @ pageant it was a real success. As a revelation to the 
assembled princes and semi-independent chieftains of the 
immense and far-reaching power of the British Empire it 
was without precedent. 


Ahmednuggar. 


Departing from the dazzling sights of Delhi, Mr. White 
proceeded on his journey into the far Punjab, while I contin- 
ued on my way to Ahmednuggar, where I visited the Ameri- 
can Board Mission. Here, as at Delhi, are Empire Builders. 
Here, too, are men working for the extension of a Kingdom. 
The banner is an even more sacred sign than that of Eng- 
land’s King: the campaigns here projected, are fought ina 
territory far more difficult of conquest than any which 
have yet confronted the British soldiery. The realm of 
human thought is being invaded; the huge fortresses of 
superstition and error are being reduced; ancient systems, 
once pure though incomplete, now impure and sin-breeding, 
are being supplanted not so much by new systems as by 
new lives. Sordid selfishness, reluctant, and contending 
every step is gradually giving way before the quiet, confi- 
dent advance of self-sacrificing love. Following the long 
hight of social distrust and tribal enmity the first faint 
rays of a growing national consciousness are beginning to 
appear. 

The modern Missionary no longer combats all that is 


T5 


sacred to the Indian as of the evil one. Only against that 
which is of error and selfishness does he direct his attacks. 
Like Judaism, the profound truth of these old religions 
is not supplanted, but rather jinds interpretation and fulfil- 
ment in Christianity. With Paul the missionary of today 
says, “whom you ignorantly worship, him declare I unto 
you.” 

Nor is it an illy accoutered effort that is being made at 
Ahmednuggar. In addition to the common and high 
schools,are a well equipped hospital, an agricultural institu- 
tion, and a thoroughgoing industrial school where many 
trades are taught. Here was the confirmation of the state 
ment made to me by a high official at the Indian office in 
London that the industrial education carried on at the 
several stations of the American Board in Western India 
was recognized by the Government as the only thoroughiy 
successful and symmetrical work done by any agency, Gov- 
ernment or Missionary, in all India. 

In addition to the preacher and teacher, many mission 
stations need the man of scientific and technical training. 
It has been said that an invention of one of the Ahmed- 
nuggar missionaries (a graduate. both of Oberlin and 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology) bids fair to revolu- 
tionize certain industrial conditions in hundreds of villages. 

Great as are the products of the mills at such places as 
Bombay and Cawnpore, so long as the majority of the 
population live in small villages, the bulk of India’s: weav- 
ing for many generations will be done on hand looms in 
the homes of the people. A British firm, recognizing this, 
undertook to market an improved hand loom. Not only 
was this largely of metal and so complicated as to demand 
an expert machinist when repairs were needed, but it could 
not be sold for less than two hundred Rupees—an absolutely 
prohibitivesum. Mr.D.C.Churchill of the American Mission 
has invented a hand loom made of wood, so simpie that an 
average village carpenter can make any necessary repairs. 
It produces three times as much cloth as the native loom, 
and the work is in every way equal to the native product. 
He is having a large demand for these looms at fifty Rupees 


16 


and they may be sold much cheaper. Who can calculate the 
benefit of such an invention to a poverty stricken country 
like India? 


Bombay. 


From Ahmednuggar I went, on January 3, to Bombay 
to see the Association work there and compare the condi- 
tions with the other presidency cities. Instead of central- 
izing the work in one large building, the secretary, Frank 
Anderson, has done the less showy work of building up 
small branches in several parts of the city, thereby estab- 
lishing points of contact with many sections and classes of 
young men. It is to be hoped that the Hnglish Association 
movement which undertakes to man the Western India field 
may be in a position to send out a man in the autumn of 
1903 or 1904 to assist Anderson in his rapidly developing 
work. The work has been started along the best lines and 
only needs additions to the staff to make it command the 
success which the Association in so large and important a 
city should have. 

In Bombay I saw more of the work of the American 
Mission and was captivated by its reality. It was my privi- 
lege to’ see the work with a party of American globe trot- 
ters whom the American Consul had urged to visit the 
Mission. Never were people more surprised. They came 
in a rather perfunctory way as if they hoped it would not 
take very long and with an evident preconceived prejudice 
against Missions. As department aiter department was 
shown and explained, wonder displaced surprise, and admi- 
ration, wonder. And when the tour ended with a splendid 
American breakfast with Rev. and Mrs. Hume, it was easy 
to see what a complete change had been wrought in their 
ideas of Missions and Missionaries. 

When one visits such Missions as these and sees the 
magnificent work for the Kingdom of Almighty God, he 
cannot but say with Lord John Lawrence, the greatest otf 
all Indian Viceroys, ““Notwithstanding all that the English 
people have done to benefit India, the missionaries have 
done more than all other agencies combined.” 

From Bombay I returned to Calcutta, where I spent a 
week in further preparation for my work as travelling sec- 
Tetary, which was formally to begin January 16. 


17 


Regular Work Begun in Bengal, the Northwest Provinces 
and the Punja6. 


My instructions from the Indian National Council and 
from the Foreign Department of the Christian Associations 
in America as well as those from the office of the British 
College Christian Union in London are to plant and develop 
self-supporting, self-perpetuating, and self-propagating as- 
sociations, and to hold them true to the main objects of the 
movement. 

These are: — 

(1) To bring men to an understanding knowledge of the 
Savior and to lead them to undertake their share in the 
work of the church. 

(2) To build men up in faith and character. 

(3) To train men so that they will be of the largest ser- 
vice to God and their fellow men. 

(4) To enlist young men in the work of extending the 
Kingdom of Christ throughout the world. 

As a representative of the Association at Harvard I have 
been sent to help to “pay the debt Harvard owes to the 
students of the Hast,’ an obligation to share whatever of 
good Harvard has given to her sons with the men of that 
East from which much of it came, and where some of it has 
since been forgotten. I have been sent also to prepare the 
way and introduce to a useful work in India such other 
men as, Harvard may from time to time offer for lives of 
service in the Hast. 

These, therefore, were the objectives before me as I set 
out upon my first tour January 16, 1903. In connection 
with my stated work I have made many opportunities for 
studying certain phases of life in order that I might the 
more thoroughly execute the commission given me by the 
Harvard Association. Indeed, several institutions I have 
visited altogether as a representative of the Harvard move- 
ment. 

After leaving Calcutta on January sixteenth, I visited 


18 


Cuttack, Hooghli, Asansol, Dacca, Darjeeling and Serampore 
in Bengal; Allahabad, Lucknow, Benares, Bareilly, Naini 
Tal, Mussoorie, Dehra Dun, Roorkee, Meerut, Aligarh, Agra, 
and Cawnpore in the North West Provinces and (unofficial- 
ly) Delhi, Lahore and Rawal Pindi in the Punjab. 

In this first tour the aim has not been so much to plant 
new Associations as to get an idea of existing conditions 
and to assist and strengthen Associations already organ- 
ized. Besides this it has been possible to study the needs 
and possibilities in certain centres, where we have been 
asked to organize local associations. 

During this tour I have been entertained at stations of 
eight different Mission Boards:—United Free Church of 
Scotland; Church Missionary Society (C. M. S.); English 
Baptists (B. M. S.); American Methodist; London Mis- 
Sionary Society (Congregational); Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel (S. P. G.); American Presbyterian; 
United Presbyterian (American). Beside this I have seen 
something of the work of English Wesleyans, The Hstab- 
lished Scottish Church, Oxford Mission, and the Edinburgh 
Medical Mission. I regret that during the tour an oppor- 
tunity was not presented to see the work at any Roman 
Catholic stations. 

At the risk of tediousness I will give here an account 
of my visit to Bareilly. 


Bareilly. 


I arrived from Benares at 11.30 Saturday evening, and 
directed the “ticca gharrie wallah” to drive me at once to 
Dr. Scott’s, the head of the Mission (American Methodist). 
At 8 A. M. Sunday I preached (through an interpreter) at 
the regular morning service to 500 native Christians. At 
six in the evening another sermon at the Hnglish service 
attended by soldiers, station people, etc. Again, Monday 
morning at 9, through an interpreter, I gave a devotional 
address to the 70 students attending the Theological Semi- 
nary. In the afternoon at 5 came a secular lecture on 
“University Life in America,’ delivered in the Town Hall 
to the students in Bareilly College (not a Mission College) 
and other English speaking Indians. At 9 A. M., Tuesday, 


BS 


another address to the theological students; at ten a tour 
of inspection of the Mission dispensary, the orphanage and 
the kindergarten. ‘At 12 a conference with the officers and 
committeemen of the Association. At 2, tiffin with the 
energetic head of Bareilly College—a Jesus College (Ox- 
ford) graduate. At 5 a lecture in the Common Room of 
Bareilly College—at the invitation of some of the Hindu 
students who had been present at the lecture the afternoon 
before. In accordance’ with their wish it was a religious 
address. It aimed at recognizing that which was best in 
their own thought-life, and at the same time it was unvar- 
nished in its presentation of the supremacy of Christianity 
as the motive power for the transforming of India. The 
discussion which followed, participated in by Brahmins and 
others, showed at once the inborn courtesy of the high- 
caste Indian and the profound influence which the person- 
ality of Our Savior is exerting’ on many students who are 
still obedient to their ancestral faith. At 8 P. M., I gavea 
short devotional talk at the weekly meeting of the Mis- 
sionaries; and at 6.30, Wednesday morning, I had left and 
was on my way to Naini Tal. 

It was my happy fortune while in Bareilly to meet Pandit 
Ikbal Kishen, Professor of Philosophy in the college. He 
has recently written an essay on Berkeley’s “Theory of 
Perception,’ which has met worthy comment outside of 
India. His appreciation of Berkeley’s Philosophy is but an 
index of| the profound mind and sincere heart of one who 
is typical of scores of others all over India who all of a 
sudden are finding themselves at the parting of the ways, 
unable longer to continue on Hinduism’s crowded highway, 
yet not quite ready to pass through the heart-breaking sepa- 
rations of those who choose to proceed in lonesomeness 
along the path of Christian service. 

Such, then, in brief, are three days fairly typical of much 
of my work. Numerous as are the demands, the days have 
been full of inspiration, of broadening vistas, and enlarged 
ambitions. To live even for three days with such people 
as Dr. and Mrs. Scott sends one away a richer man. 

On February 25 I left Bareilly for Naini Tal, one of the 


20 


important Hill Stations, the summer seat of the North 
West Provinces Government, where my mission was to 
assist slightly in the preliminaries to the acquisition of 
some property for an Association about to be organized. 
The local leaders wished to secure a knowledge of the 
experience and precedents in other places as regards Boards 
of Trustees, their liabilities as holders of property, ete. 


Lahore. 


After Mussoorie and Roorki came a visit to Lahore, 
which, next to Calcutta, is the largest student centre in 
India. Here, Gilbert and Turner are stationed. Previous 
to their coming last autumn, the Association had had a 
checkered career of ups and downs. Since their arrival, 
however, a marked change has been made and the present 
success augurs a bright future. 

In Lahore is located the Forman Christian College 
(American Presbyterian), under the able presidency of Dr. 
J.C. R. Ewing. It was with no little pride that I learned 
that this American Institution from an educational point of 
view, is the strongest in the whole Punjab. At a recent 
meeting of all the Punjab Missionaries of this board query 
was made as to the most encouraging feature of the Mis- 
sion. Without exception the Mofussil missionaries stated 
that it was the work of the Mission College. They said that 
though very few of the graduates were Christians, yet when 
they returned to their villages after taking their degrees, 
these fellows rallied to the support of missionary enter- 
prises, led whole villages to place their confidence in the 
Missionaries, and sought in every way to further the work. 

Lahore is a city with many points of interest. Opposite 
the “Wonder House” still stands old Zam Zammeh, the 
historic cannon which introduced “Kim” to the Kipling 
reading world. A visit to the roofs of one of the highest 
houses in the native city revealed the scene of the “Little 
Friend of all the World’s” “headiong flight from housetop 
to housetop under the cover of the hot dark” “executing 
commissions” “for sleek and shiny men of fashion.”* No 


*See Chapter I, ‘“ Kim.” 
21 


other city which I have seen presents such an impressive 
sweep of lofty, closely huddled, feverish houses. 

A night’s journey north of Lahore brought me to Rawal 
Pindi, one of the stations of the United Presbyterian Mission 
(American). 

Here at Rawal Pindi a Christian College is being built 
up which will draw its students from northern Punjab and 
increasingly gather in young men from the sturdy, warlike, 
capable border tribes. 


Delhi. 


From Rawal Pindi I turned southwards, visiting the Chris- 
tian Associations in the A. P. Mission High School at Dehra 
Dun; in the Government Engineering College at Roorkee; 
and the one among the young Indians of the C. M. S. and 
M. H. Missions at Meerut. Next came Delhi, where I stayed 
at the Cambridge Mission and appreciated greatly the op- 
portunity of seeing somewhat of the life of the Brotherhood. 
It was here exactly twenty years before that Phillips Brooks 
was entertained so hospitably while Evert Wendell, who 
was touring India with him, was ill with small-pox. 

I will be doing well to couch my impressions in Phillips 
Brooks’ own words: 

“Three young fellows, graduates of Cambridge, scholars 
and gentlemen, live here together, and give themselves to 
missionary work. They have some first-rate schools, and 
are just starting a high-class college. They preach in the 
bazaars, and have their mission stations out in the country, 
where they constantly go. I have grown to respect them 
thoroughly. Serious, devoted, self-sacrificing feliows they 
are, rather high churchmen, but thoughtful, and scholarly, 
and with all the best broad church books upon their shelves. 
They are jolly, pleasant companions as possible, and yes- 
terday I saw a cricket match between their school and the 
Government school here, in which one of these young par- 
sons played a first-rate bat. Under their guidance I have 
seen very thoroughly this wonderful old city, the great seat 
of the Mogul Empire, excessively rich in the best Moham- 
medan architecture.” 

To be sure there are now seven instead of three; and 


22 


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ear upd szyzvy ayy (Ue SIJWII}S JY} YO}VM Iaj9sN IAA ,, 


one of the “three young fellows” is now the grey haired 
Father Superior, and another is the present Bishop of 
Lahore. The “High-class college’ is now a well recognized 
institution, and though not large has had a splendid record. 

Without doubt the existence of a University Mission does 
much to intensify the interest of undergraduates of Cam- 
bridge in the Mission cause as it has done at Oxford. May 
it not be possible for the Harvard Association before long 
to extend its present missionary programme by choosing 
some one centre which will be a sort of rallying point for 
all Harvard men who come to join different Missions in 
India or to engage in commerce, and which will be a rest- 
house for those birds of passage who “do” India in a 
fortnight on their way to Manila and Japan. 


Cawnpore. 


I arrived at Cawnpore early one morning near the end of 
March and went directly to the Civil and Military Hotel, 
where I was to put up. One oi the missionaries who met 
me at the station insisted on taking me for a drive (the 
morning was still cool) to the points of historic interest 
in connection with the Mutiny. Historian or novelist has 
never yet reproduced the horrible tragedy of those awful 
and long continued days of living death. 

In the evening I spoke to a meeting in one of the 
churches, composed largely of young people and soldiers. 
After this came a splendid informal song service in the sol- 
diers’ prayer-roomatthe Army barracks. In one of the regi- 
ments, especially, there was a considerable number of clean- 
living chaps who were the life of the Soldiers’ Christian 
Association and a power for good in the whole regiment. 
To get close to these rough, big-hearted soldiers who go to 
the ends of the earth to uphold the honor of the English 
flag is really a privilege. No class of people ever existed 
who are more appreciative of attention. Usually you find 
no half-hearted men in the Soldiers’ Christian Association. 
A man has got to be living up to his professions to pass 
muster in the army. 

The next day I spent several hours visiting the various 


23 


departments of the S. P. G. (High Anglican) Mission. The 
two leaders are the sons of the late Canon Westcott. Like 
most of the S. P. G. stations the mission is strongly organ- 
ized and manned by capable, though rather ritualistic men. 
In their industrial work I observed that the heads of the 
printing, carpentering and brass founding departments were 
all artisans brought out from England to the work. 

That evening I spoke to about 200 native Christians 
through an interpreter. This meeting was followed by a 
conference of officers and committee chairmen of the native 
Christian Association, which I found simply needed leader- 
ship to continue the programme of able religious services 
and Sunday School work they had been carrying on in the 
past. 

Lucknow. 


From Cawnpur I went to Lucknow, where there are even 
more evidences of the awiul days of the mutiny. 

On this, my second visit to Lucknow, I gave most of my 
time to getting acquainted with those sections of the stu- 
dent community not visited betore, viz., the Government 
(Canning) College, Colvin School, a fashionable institution 
for the sons of native princes and wealthy landowners, and 
La Matinierre, the “St. Xavier’s’” where “Kim” was sent 
to acquire the knowledge of the Sahibs. 

The plague was at its height when I was in Lucknow, and 
while never affecting Huropeans, its ravages were working 
fierce havoc in the native quarter and in the neighboring 
country. The Superstition of the people against being in- 
oculated has brought death to many a cottage. Since, how- 
ever, the Government has ceased making it compulsory, 
the number of natives applying for inoculation has greatly 
increased. So great is the superstition of the people that 
the rumor that the Government is the agency which is 
spreading the plague gained great credence. Inoculation 
was held to be the means by which the officials were spread- 
ing the dread disease. In a certain section of the native 
city in Lucknow, the people appointed a watch every night 
to prevent any Europeans passing through the streets and 
scattering the plague. 


24 


A babu (educated native) recently rolled up some pow- 
ders and put them into different colored papers and went 
out to some of the villages telling the people that he had 
been sent by the Government to spread the plague, but that 
he would refrain if they would give him some money. In 
one village he demanded twenty-five rupees, an enormous 
sum for a small village. The head men of the village tried 
to get him to reduce his price but he remained obdurate. 
So after a little, one of them slipped away to the nearest 
police station and asked if twenty-five rupees was the right 
price to pay for keeping away the plague. Of course this 
led to the immediate arrest of the babu. 

In Cawnpur, the Municipality has recently been con- 
structing a huge sewer, completely surrounding the native 
city. One day great consternation was caused by the rumor 
which stalked through the bazaar that the Sahibs were 
going to fill this with dynamite, move all the Europeans 
across the river under the cover of some dark night, and 
then blow up the whole native population. 

Beside the opportunities and need of effort on behalf of 
the Indian students in Lucknow, many people expressed the 
hope that it would be possible for us before long to open 
a Christian club for the large number of Huropean and 
Eurasian young men who are employed in the railway 
workshops and in the stores. I saw the head of the shops 
of the Oudh and Rohilkhand R. R., and he assured me of 
his hearty co-operation in such an enterprise. 


Allahabad. 


From Lucknow I proceeded to Allahabad. Allahabad is 
the winter seat of the Northwest Provinces Government. 
This means that there is a considerable English speaking 
population, composed. of the officials themselves, and Eura- 
sian and Indian clerks, accountants, etc. In addition to 
Holland’s work among the Indian students in the Gov- 
ernment College, Grace carries on a work that is two-fold. 
(1) A club is maintained for Europeans and Hurasians. 
(2) In the native city there is a well equipped reading 
room and a good sized lecture hall where educated Indians 


25 


(mest of them attachés of the Government offices) congre 
gate to listen to lectures on literary, religious and other 
subjects. Situated in the centre of the native city, it stands 
in a unique position as an exponent of a broader learning 
and a deeper religious consciousness. 


Student Conference at Walajabad. 


From Allahabad I proceeded to Asansol and Calcutta, and 
om the seventh of April I entrained tor South India to at- 
tendtheStudent Camp to be held at Walajabad. This Easter 
conferencedrew students from as far North as Masulipatam 
and PalamcottahontheSouth. There were86students present 
from 28 schools and colleges, and as a body they represented 
the flower of the young life among the Christian communi- 
ties of South India. Much time was spent in studying the 
several methods of Bible Study. The normal Christian life, 
personal work, etc., were among the subjects discussed. A 
strong appeal was made by one of the students to the dele- 
gates to devote their lives to the evangelization of India. 
The few missionary movements that have already started 
were cited as a stimulus to further action. The Christian 
church in Jaffna has for long been carrying on mission 
work amongst the neighboring islands, and has recently 
separated two of its number to cross over into India to 
serve as their representatives there. The annual budget 
of this Church is something like this: Local expenses, Rs. 
12,000; home Missions (to the neighboring islands), Rs. 
2,000; foreign Missions, Rs.1,000. When the Christian church 
all over India rises to such a standard the day of India’s 
greatest joy will be hastened. The fires are already spread- 
ing. The Telegus on the Hast Coast are sending a man to 
Africa to work among the Telegus who have migrated there. 
The Tamils of Tinnivelly have organized a strong society 
and are studying the whole Indian field in order to secure 
the best place for starting their work. The Marathi Church 
in Bombay, in responses to a pastorless church hundreds of 
miles away in another language belt sent its pastor for the 
work, and though they have had to hire another pastor, 
are still continuing to pay their missionary pastor’s salary. 


26 


Only those who know how slow the poverty stricken church 
has been in acquiring the missionary spirit can understand 
what encouragement these signs of progress bring. 

It was interesting to note the similarity between this 
conference and those at Northfield and at Harvard. There 
was the same general programme. The same mingled spirit 
of hard work and of real fun. The same ever deepening 
purpose as the conference drew to a close. We all ate 
together—this being my first experience with wholly native 
food. The four days of curry and rice eaten native fashion, 
from plates of leaves while we sat squatted on the floor, 
were really enjoyable. 


Madras. 


After the Conference was over I spent about a week in 
Madras meeting some of the leaders in educational and 
other circles, getting a good deal of valuable information. 
I served as one of the officials in the Pachipays College 
(native) track games. Everything was run off very much 
as at home and many of the events were closely contested. 
Only instead of white armed athletes, there was always pro- 
truding from the seeming insecure Indian garments a con- 
siderable area of rich brown. 

In the Zoological laboratory of the Madras Christian Col- 
lege I found some original work carried on by the M.A. 
students; which was striking. it was pleasing to find that 
pamphlets and plates prepared by the Geographical and 
Survey Departments at Washington were proving of great 
value. The professor said, “Your Government is always 
very generous with its publications.” To see Hindus at 
work analyzing the character of sand after it had passed 
through the digestive processes of a fish would have been 
a trifie disconcerting to those who hold that the oriental 
mind limits itself to philosophy and contemplation. 

As Bishop Thoburn said at Toronto, the task in Africa is 
to create a language and then preach in it, while in India 
the task is to create a moral sense and then appeal to it. 
There is plenty of philosophy here, but precious little that 
helps a man up when he is down. As one Hindu said, “Ah 
yes, your Christian philosophy may not soar into quite such 


27 


lofty regions as our own, but somehow or other it makes 
a tempted man able to win victory and to replace impurity 
with decency.” 

In the reading and game room at the city branch at Alla- 
habad I got into a conversation with a high caste Hindu 
who had made a thorough study of Christianity and had 
come in contact with many Christian people. ‘J am thor- 
oughly convinced,” he said, ‘“ of the superiority of Chris- 
tianity, but I cannot become a Christian because it will 
mean loss of social position, rights of property and absolute 
ostracism from all my former friends.” At Cuttack I had 
a long conversation with a Brahmin who held a high po 
sition in connection with the Government. He prefaced his 
talk by saying, “Oh, we have heard of Harvard, for we 
delight to read the works of Emerson and Holmes and your 
other great Harvard men.” When asked why an educated 
and widely read man like himself still clung to the super- 
stitions of Hinduism he said, “If there would only come 
a union amongst Brahmins who would accept Christianity 
we would welcome the opportunity. But what can one 
man do? While I am convinced of its truth I cannot 
afford to take a step which will cut me off from everything 
that has made life worth while. Still, those of us who 
study your Scriptures, your literature and your history are 
forced to see in Christianity a power for progress, happi- 
ness and national prosperity, which is absent from our 
Indian systems. Some day you will see a mass movement 
amongst the people of the higher castes, and then, and not 
till then will India rise from her lethargy and become a 
nation of which the people may be proud.” 

May that time soon come, for one cannot stay long in the 
Fast without hoping that some day Christianity will reach 
all classes and find here an even more lofty expression than 
man has yet given it. Certain it is that the West will learn 
much from the Indian Christian in the generations to come 
—in gentleness and fineness of feeling and depth of re 
ligious emotion. 

Let the church at home still look upon Mission work as 
altruistic, but do not let it lose sight of the fact that some 


28 


day it will be a great gainer from the new life and thought 
that will be added to our religion as it finds expression in 
the thoroughly oriental temperament. 

April 21, I fringed the East coast once again on my way 
back to Calcutta. How I should have liked when I passed 
through Masulipatan to leave the train for a few hours 
and stroll down to the bay and catch even a tiny glimpse 
of the Mayflower, which history states lies wrecked at the 
bottom of the Bay of Bengal, not far away from this spot. 
What a contrast between India now and as the Mayflower 
found her! What an even greater contrast if the good ship 
were to be raised and could visit once more the land of her 
fame. With Sir Edwin Arnold [I would hope that the day 
may be hastened when the contact between the thought-life 
of Harvard and that of wealthy but poverty stricken India 
may be increased. 


Here endeth my first year’s work in India. The work in 
Burma is of such a different character and in a land of 
such great differences that accounts of it may well be Kept 
separate. 


Opportunities. 


In a letter dated at Dehra Dun, March 12, 1903, addressed 
to the Graduate Secretary of the Harvard Christian Asso- 
ciation, Carter says:— 

I should like to be able to recommend men for the fol- 
lowing positions: 

I. A man for electrical and mechanical engineering at 
Allahabad Christian College. Its principal is a Johns Hop- 
kins B.A., M.A. and Ph.D., and it has a bright future. 

Il. A man for the Gordon Mission College, Rawal Pindi, 
in the northern Punjab. This is a rather new institution, 
but is under the auspices of one of the most aggressive 
Mission Boards in India—the American United Presby- 
terian. I saw the Director General of Education for the 
Punjab, and he said that the Government approved thor- 
oughly of this college. Being near Kashmir and Afghanis- 
tan it draws from the frontier tribes,—brave and capable 
capable men. The man would be a teacher of English and 
English literature. 

III. A man to teach English and be sort of unofficial 
Christian Association Secretary at Ahmednuggar in West- 
ern India. He would be appointed by the American Board. 
This particular mission carries on a large industrial work 
that is the most successful in all India. 

IV. A man at the same mission with thorough technical 
training in several lines to assist in development of indus- 
trial work. A man with inventive faculty if possible. 

V. A man preterably with theological training to become 
sort of Bishop or pastor general for a colony of over 30,000 
Syrian Christians in Travancore. No Missionaries are 
among them. They have no well-trained clergy of their 
own. 

VI. A man with a thorough knowledge of American 
Railroad Young Men’s Christian Association work to locate 
in Rawal Pindi and develop among railroad men a work 


30 


on the lines of the North Western Railroad—the railroad 
with greatest mileage in India. 

VII. A secretary for the Young Men’s Christian Asso- 
ciation at Lucknow. A large work can be done among 
European and Eurasian young men in this, the fifth city 
of India. The missionaries are earnest in their appeals 
for a man. There would also be opportunity for work 
among Indian college students. 

VIII. A secretary for the Young Men’s Christian Asso- 
ciation at Dacca, next to Calcutta the largest student centre 
- in Bengal—attractive because in a rather backward district, 
where students are not so corrupted by contact with 
EHuropeans and the cosmopolitan life of the large cities. 

IX. A man for the position of travelling secretary of the 
Associations in Burma. 

xX. A man to develop a Railroad Young Men’s Christian 
Association in Howrah, the great terminal for Calcutta. 

XI. <A general secretary to work among students and 
Babris in Rawal Pindi. 

XII. A Boys’ secretary for Rangoon. 

XIII. <A travelling secretary for work among the thou- 
sands of soldiers in ati parts of India. 

XIV. A National Bible Study Secretary for the Yourg 
Men’s Christian Association. This is a position that can 
be made as_ influential as any held in India, in 
Missions, Army, Commerce or Government. The right 
man can influence through this work thousands of 
students, thousands of mative Christians, and _ be 
identified with the supreme movements for reform at 
the present day. 


Dehra Dun, March 12, 1903. 


Burma and Developments Since April 27, 1903. 


On April 27, 2903, Carter sailed from Calcutta for Ran- 
goon, Burma, where for several months he supervised the 
work in that city. This arrangement was rendered neces- 
sary by the absence of the secretary, O. H. McCowan, who 
was in England on furlough endeavoring to complete the 
fund necessary to erect an Association building in Rangoon. 
Interrupted by occasional necessary trips to various points 
in India, Carter was nevertheless enabled to profit much by 
the detailed study of a local field and to continue and de- 
velop the comprehensive plans already instituted in Ran- 
goon by Mr. McCowan. . 

During the summer of 1903, owing to continued ill health 
and enforced absence from India, Robert P. Wilder, General 
Secretary for the entire Indian work, resigned. Great con- 
cern was felt by the Indian National Council and the For- 
eign Department of the National organizations! in England 
and America, in the attempt to find a man suited to take 
up a work involving so great responsibility. At length, 
however, in view of his peculiar adaptability to the condi- 
tions and his recognized success in work already under- 
taken, it was decided to offer this position to Carter. After 
considerable hesitation, especially in view of his limited 
experience on Indian soil, he accepted the appointment and 
is now the General Secretary of the Indian National Coun- 
cil, and has in his hands the direction of the whole associa- 
tion enterprise in India. No attempt is made in this 
pamphlet to report either on his work in this capacity or 
on his work while in Burma. We have concerned ourselves 
only with his first year’s work as a travelling secretary in 
Bengal, the Northwest Provinces and the Punjab. 

Many of the men at Harvard regard Carter as their 
representative. An effort is made to provide eight hundred 
dollars annually for his support. Most of the money given 
is raised in small subscriptions from undergraduates. Sub- 
scriptions in any amount, however, are needed, since only 
that money is used which is subscribed specifically for Car- 
ter’s support. 

Contributions may be sent to Arthur E. Wood, Treasurer, 
Phillips Brooks House, Cambridge, Mass. 

Gurry E, Huaerns. 


32 


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